In the movie “Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” there is a scene in which we see a table laden with the remnants of what must have been a truly wonderful meal. The camera pulls back, and we see that a character (I believe it was played by Robert Morley) did indeed have a meal to die for — he literally ate himself to death.

If there should ever come a time when we approach the point where the only “meat” available is some sort of proceesed protein substance grown in a laboratory, I shall attempt to procure as much of the remaining real stuff as I can (along with appropriate accompaniments from the vegetable family), invite a few close friends to share it, and have a literal last meal. I do not want to live in a world where the “meat” comes from a laboratory.

Oh please. This sort of futuristic fantasizing is like that film you excerpted a week ago. What’s more likely is that we’re going to be eating rabbits we raise in our back yards on weeds and table scraps, because the food and energy crises will make it impossible to afford commercially produced meat.

And New Yorkers with no back yards will be raising rabbits in the basements and in rooftop shanties. I knew a man on the Lower East Side who raised chickens, rabbits, homing pigeons and cockatiels in his Avenue A loft, so it can be done, and if you all get hungry enough, you’ll do it. (My friend kept his animals for pets, not food)

Have you read Feed by M.T. Anderson? The title is not about eating but rather a continual connection to the Internet wired directly into one’s brain, and features a moving scene where the teen protagonist and his girlfriend visit a farm to see “where it all comes from;” only there are no actual cows there.

I’d want to know more about the process of generating a particular in vivo meat, but in theory I’m no more opposed to it than I am to any other faux meat like seitan or tofu, both of which I enjoy (and make myself, thanks to How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, I might add). If it’s not chemically scary or environmentally evil, I don’t see the problem, really. Sure, I’d wish for a less over-burdened planet, but we’re not going to be able to stem the tide overnight, and the sooner we start shifting our lifestyles toward what it’ll be like when there are 10 billion of us, the easier it will be to endure it.

I say yes, if it ever will be economically possible.
Here is a very good link //www.futurefood.org about the status quo of cultured meat (in-vitro-meat) research, but also about possibilities to lift vegetarian meat to higher levels of acceptance. Maybe an inspiration for the future?!